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STAR WARS: Russia could use ‘KAMIKAZE’ satellites to attack US spacecraft and EARTH

MOSCOW could use satellites to attack other spacecraft or Earth, senior US scientists and military bosses have spectacularly warned.

In a terrifying scenario plucked straight from the pages of a James Bond espionage thriller, the experts said Russia could use kamikaze satellites to take out vital space infrastructure or “swallow” smaller satellites.

Spacecraft could also be manipulated to attack targets on Earth in a conflict reminiscent of a Star Wars movie.

Andrew Engle, a 1st Lieutenant in the US army tasked with monitoring civilian and military satellite, said the rapidly changing threats represented a “new frontier of space”.

Kosmos 2499 is just one Russian satellite which has earned the name Kamikaze because of its ability to destroy other satellites.

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But Kosmos 2499 is not the only threat to other space craft and communication satellites in orbit.

Kosmos 2504 and another named Luch are thought to pose a similar risk.

Retired General William Shelton, a former commander of the US Air Force’s space command, added: “You could have something on orbit that, for all intents and purposes, looks like a communications satellite, when in actuality, it is also a weapon.”

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In 2013 a Chinese satellite appeared to “ingest” another, smaller satellite, before it reappeared on radar screens.

The smaller satellite continued to disappear and then reappear and the Chinese government later confirmed the satellite had a robotic arm that could be used to inspect space debris.

Paul Graziani, chief executive of civilian satellite tracker Analytical Graphics, said that same technology could be used to “grab ahold of a satellite and manoeuvre it out of its mission”.